Finding a positive response to Northside melee

Bob.Mack@jacksonville.com- A positive approach. Derrick Phelps, 18, is a student at Forrest High School and wants to help build bridges between students and the community by engaging with young people.

It’s understandable that the Christmas disturbance at the Hollywood River City 14 movie theater complex is so alarming.

Hundreds of mostly black teens and young adults overran the Northside movie complex, fighting and causing chaos. It also led to several arrests.

Things could have been worse if Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office personnel hadn’t shown admirable restraint and discipline in their crowd control tactics.

The incident cries out for a response that goes beyond alarm and anger.

It should lead to proactive steps that confront the factors that encourage area youths to carry out damaging, anti-social behavior, often in groups.

One productive first step is “Say No to Disrespect” — a community initiative organized by many area black leaders in the aftermath of the trouble.

The campaign is designed to educate and encourage youths to make smarter choices and remind parents and guardians about taking responsibility for their children.

It can make a difference by driving home two themes with area youths and parents:

■ The importance of embracing common social values.

■ The need to accept accountability for actions.

RESPECT AND RESTRAINT

The youths who stormed the River City 14 theater don’t represent the overwhelming majority of black teens and young adults across Jacksonville, who are as law-abiding, positive-minded and respectful as anyone else.

That’s why it’s insulting and shortsighted to merely dismiss the incident as a “black” problem for the “black” community to resolve.

This is an issue that concerns all of Jacksonville.

And it’s one that requires our whole community working together to resolve. That’s reality.

But here’s another reality: There’s clearly a disconnect between the youths who eagerly carried out the River City 14 bedlam and the social values — self-restraint, concern for others, respect for property — that are key for any functioning community.

And that’s just not acceptable.

Fortunately, the “Say No to Disrespect” organizers plan to hold “listening tours” and roundtable discussions with youths across Jacksonville. Many of the discussions will focus on simply hearing the concerns of youths and taking their views seriously.

But equally important, the talks will address the need for youths to treat others with respect and develop the tools to use better judgment.

“We’ve got to get a handle on this,” said state Sen. Audrey Gibson during a recent “Say No to Disrespect” press conference.

Gibson’s advice is as wise as it is blunt. She said area youths must be encouraged to channel their energies in better directions, such as using the Internet in a more constructive fashion.

She’s right.

MORE ACCOUNTABILITY

As part of the campaign, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will step up enforcement of the city’s curfew laws. And the heightened enforcement will force parents to pay more attention to where their kids are going.

But it’s far less of a nuisance than being required to appear in court with your kid after he or she has become involved in some after-hours “mess” and begging a judge to show leniency towards your child.

That’s what at least one mother of a youth arrested during the River City 14 madness had to do — an experience that left her expressing relief when her son avoided the jail time and fine that his trouble-making likely warranted.

If it’s done with a firm but fair hand, stricter curfew enforcement can help reduce the prospect of more troubling incidents like the Christmas night ruckus.

It’s a goal that all of Jacksonville must help to achieve.

And it’s one our entire community — regardless of neighborhood, race or background — must embrace and support.

This collective responsibility is nonsense. The responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders of those elements of the Northside Black community that should be held accountable for the incident and not with some cover-up with a program of, " Say No to Disrespect ". What is insulting and misleading is the attitude by the T~U that this isn't a Black problem, it is most certainly.It took a major incident like this to focus on what's going on in that community. Ignored are the many smaller incidents like this that have happened. The T~U and others of similar sympathy are again examples of, " the soft bigotry of low expectations".

"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it" George Orwell

9585 points

tobot241

Saturday, January 11, 2014 @ 11:44 am

"It should lead to proactive steps that confront the factors that encourage area youths to carry out damaging, anti-social behavior, often in groups."

The answer lies in the fact that there is no discouragement or punishment, only an "ooh poor babies" attitude.

"The youths who stormed the River City 14 theater don’t represent the overwhelming majority of black teens and young adults across Jacksonville, who are as law-abiding, positive-minded and respectful as anyone else."

They may not represent the overwhelming majority of black youth, but they do compose the overwhelming majority of criminals.